The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is one of the most legendary places on earth. The Frontier, as it is and was popularly known, of all Pakistan's Provinces, is arguably the most diverse ethnically, the most varied in terrain and sports a vigorous cultural spectrum.

The Frontier conjures up a world of valour and war, of rugged men and mountains, of tribesmen shaped in a heroic, hospitable mould. Gateway to the Subcontinent, since times immemorial, it has witnessed migration-waves of peoples,campaigns of conquerors, flow of innumerable caravans of commerce, influx of intellectuals, artists, poets and saints from the north into its fertile valleys and onwards to the plains of the Punjab, Sindh and beyond the Indus to South Asia.

The region varies in topography from dry rocky areas in the south to forests and green plains in the north. The climate can be extreme with intensely hot summers to freezing cold winters. Despite these extremes in weather, agriculture remains important and viable in the area.

The hilly terrain of Swat, Kalam, Upper Dir, Naran and Kaghan is renowned for its beauty and attracts a great many tourists from neighbouring regions and from around the world. Swat-Kalam is also termed 'a piece of Switzerland' as there are many landscape similarities between it and the mountainous terrain of Switzerland.

According to the 1998 census, the population of NWFP was approximately 17 million.[6], of whom 52% are males and 48% are females. The density of population is 187 per km² and the intercensal change of population is of about 30%. Geographically the province could be divided into two zones: the northern one extending from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the borders of Peshawar basin, and the southern one extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin.

The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of Peshawar basin, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall. The southern zone is arid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scantly rainfall.

Its climate varies from very cold (Chitral in the north) to very hot in places like D.I. Khan. The major rivers that criss-cross the province are Kabul River, Swat River, Chitral River, Panjgora River, Bara River, Karam River, Gomal River and Zob River.

Its snow-capped peaks and lush green valleys of unusual beauty have enormous potential for tourism .

The District Boy Scouts Association.

Climate

The climate of NWFP varies immensely for a region of its size, most of the many climate types found in Pakistan. The province stretching southwards from the Baroghil Pass in the Hindu Kush covers almost six degrees of latitude, it is mainly a mountainous region. Dera Ismail Khan is one of the hottest places in the South Asia while in the mountains to the north the weather is temperate in the summer and intensely cold in the winter. The air generally very dry and consequently the daily and annual range of temperature range is quite large.[7]

Chitral District

The north, comprising Chitral District, has a typically continental steppe climate, with average annual precipitation ranging from 100 mm (4 inches) per year in the far north to 585 mm (23 inches) in Drosh in the south. Most of this precipitation from frontal cloudbands during the winter and heavy thunderstorms in the spring. Of Chitral's average 420 mm (16.5 inches) of rainfall per year, 350 mm (13.8 inches) falls from December to May.

At high elevations in the Hindukush, snowfall can be much heavier than this and consequently large glaciers are a prominent feature of the landscape. Snow also cuts off even Chitral town from the outside world for most of the year. Temperatures in the valleys vary from 40 °C (105 °F) in July to as low as -10 °C (15 °F) in January. In the previous few years flooding has created problems in Mastuj tehsil.

Dir, Swat and Hazara

Further south, in the districts of Dir, Swat and Hazara, the climate becomes more typical of the South Asia, although a considerable proportion of the annual precipitation still comes from frontal cloudbands during the winter months.

The combination of a short but powerful (owing to orography) summer monsoon with frequent winter cloudbands gives a bimodal rainfall regime in central parts of NWFP. Dir and Hazara districts are some of the wettest places in Pakistan: annual rainfall at Dir averages 1475 mm (58 inches), of which 400 mm (15.75 inches) falls during the summer monsoon from July to September and twice that amount during the winter rainy season from December to April.

At Abbottabad further east, the annual rainfall averages about 1195 mm (47 inches), but as much as 635 mm (25 inches) falls during the south-west monsoon. In Swat, rather more sheltered, the annual rainfall averages around 840 mm (33 inches), with about 430 mm (17 inches) expected between June and September. A similar climate to that of Dir, though drier, prevails in a small area around Parachinar in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

In all areas October and November are the driest months with rainfalls generally under 30 mm (1.2 inches) per month except in the most exposed areas.

Temperatures in this region are somewhat warmer than in Chitral, and even at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) in Abbottabad the heat and humidity can be oppressive during the monsoon season. In winter, most of Swat receives significant snowfall, but in Hazara temperatures usually are around 5 °C (41 °F).

Southern NWFP

This region, south of the Himalaya/Hindukush foothills, has the typically hot and dry climate of much of Pakistan. Temperatures in summer are quite oppressively hot, and in the south around Mardan temperatures of 45 °C (113 °F) are not un common, whilst in Peshawar 40 °C (104 °F) is par for the course in summer.

In winter, however, this region is both warmer and generally drier than the rest of NWFP, with temperatures being around 17 °C (62 °F) in Peshawar and over 20 °C (68 °F) in the extreme south of the province. Nights, however, can still be quite cold during the winter.

Southern NWFP experiences little (and very erratic) monsoonal rain, with Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan both averaging around 115 mm (4.5 inches) of rain in July and August and almost nothing in June or September. Moreover, in many years no summer rain of significance occurs.

In winter, rainfall usually peaks in March but Peshawar averages less than 250 mm (10 inches) between December and May and Dera Ismail Khan less than 115 mm (4.5 inches). On certain mountain slopes such as around Kohat, winter rainfall may predominate, though this is unpredictable.

Demographics

Historical populations

Census

Population

Urban

1951

4,556,545

11.07%

1961

5,730,991

13.23%

1972

8,388,551

14.25%

1981

11,061,328

15.05%

1998

17,743,645

16.87%

The province has an estimated population of roughly 21 million that does not include the almost 1.5 million Afghan refugees[8] and their descendants in the province.[9][10] The largest ethnic group are the Pashtuns who form about two-thirds of the population.[11]

Pashto is the most pervasive language while Hindko is the second most commonly spoken indigenous language. Pashto is predominant in western and southern NWFP and is the main language in most cities and towns including Peshawar. With an estimated 3.5 million ethnic Pashtuns, Karachi hosts one of the largest Pashtun populations in the world.

Further north, the prominent Pashtun tribes are, Swati,Kakar, Tareen, Jadoon and Mashwani. There are various non-Pashtun tribes including Awan, Gujjar. The Awan are believed to be of Arabic origin and are recognisably different from the rest of Pashtun and non-Pushtun majority.

The Vale of Peshawar was home to the Kingdom of Gandhara from around the 6th century BC and later ancient Peshawar became a capital of the Kushan Empire. The region was visited by such notable historical figures as Darius II, Alexander the Great, Hiuen Tsang, Fa Hien, Marco Polo, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Winston Churchill, among others. According to the Mahabharatha (an Indian epic dating to 3000 BC), the Gandhara kingdom had its capital at today's Kandahar in Afghanistan.[citation needed] The place of Shakuni Maternal Uncle of Kauravas and their mother Gandhari's Land. Following the Mauryan conquest of the region, Buddhism became a major faith, at least in urban centres, as attested by recent archaeological and hermeneutic evidence. Kanishka, a prominent Kushan ruler was one of the prominent Buddhist kings.

“

The region of Gandhara has long been known as a major centre of Buddhist art and culture around the beginning of the Christian era. But until recently, the Buddhist literature of this region was almost entirely lost. Now, within the last decade, a large corpus of Gandharan manuscripts dating from as early as the 1st century A.D. has come to light and is being studied and published by scholars at the University of Washington. These scrolls, written on birch-bark in the Gandharan language and the Kharosthi script, are the oldest surviving Buddhist literature, which has hitherto been known to us only from later and modern Buddhist canons. They also institute a missing link between original South Asian Buddhism and the Buddhism of East Asia, which was exported primarily from Gandhara along the Silk Roads through Central Asia and thence to China.[12]

”

Rural areas retained numerous Shamanistic faiths as evident with the Kalash and other groups. The roots of Pashtunwali or the traditional code of honour followed by the Pashtuns is also believed to have Pre-Islamic origins. Persian invasions left small pockets of Zoroastrians and, later, a ruling Hindu elite established itself briefly during the later Shahi period.

The Shahi era

During the early 1st millennium, prior to the rise of Islam, the NWFP was ruled by the Shahi kings. The early Shahis were Afghan Buddhist rulers and reigned over the area until 870 CE when they were overthrown and then later replaced.

When the Chinese monk Xuanzang visited the region early in the 7th century CE, the Kabul valley region was still ruled by affiliates of the Shahi kings, who is identified as the Shahi Khingal, and whose name has been found in an inscription found in Gardez.

While the early Shahis were Irano-Afghan and Hindus Kabulistani in origin, the later Shahi kings of Kabul and Gandhara may have had links to some ruling families in neighbouring Kashmir and the Punjab. The Hindu Shahis are believed to have been a ruling elite of a predominantly Buddhist, Hindu and shamanistic population and were thus patrons of numerous faiths, and various artefacts and coins from their rule have been found that display their multicultural domain.

The last Shahi rulers were eventually wiped out by tribes led by Mahmud of Ghazni who arrived from Afghanistan early in the 11th century.

Arrival of Islam

Buddhism and Shamanism remained prominent in the region until Muslim Arabs and Turks conquered the area before the 2nd millennium CE. Over the centuries local Pashtun and Dardic tribes converted to Islam, while retaining some local traditions (albeit altered by Islam) such as Pashtunwali or the Pashtun code of honour.

Mughal Empire

Muslim technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, theologians and sufis flocked from the rest of the Muslim world to the region and Islam flourished because of these Northern Afghan and Central Asian invaders.

The NWFP was an important borderland that was often contested by the Mughals and Safavids of Persia. During the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the NWFP required formidable military forces to control and the emergence of Pashtun nationalism, who opposed Mughals who had conquered most of North India. A leading force in inspiring Pashtun miltancy was the local warrier poet Khushal Khan Khattak who united some of the tribes against the various empires around the region.

As the Mughal had lost control by 1757, the NWFP came under the control of the Amir of Afghanistan Ahmed Shah Abdali.

The Sikh Empire, 1801-1849, under Ranjit Singh ruled parts of the NWFP province from 1818 until the British took over during the Anglo Sikh war of 1849. However total control was never established, there was constant rebellion and insurgency against the authority.

The British Raj and birth of NWFP after the Durand Line Agreement

The British, who had captured most of rest of the Indian subcontinent without significant problems, faced a number of difficulties here. The first war with the Pashtuns resulted in a devastating defeat, with just one Dr. William Brydon coming back alive (out of a total of 14,800-21,000 people). This happened during the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1849 and later the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1876. The Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919, was also a continuation of the fight for Reclaiming Areas of NWFP and claiming independence from British occupation efforts which the Afghans or the Pashtuns resisted with greatest zeal and effort to remain as independent nation.

Unable to enforce their rule in the region, the British changed their tactics and played a game of divide and rule. The use of religion and installing puppet Pashtun rulers and dividing the Pashtuns through artificially created regions and ruling indirectly to reduce the chance of confrontation between Pashtuns and the British. Although the smallest size province Pushtoons were divided into Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Frontier Regions (FR) and Settled Areas of NWFP and Baluchistan. NWFP was restricted to five districts.

Occasional Pashtun resistance and attacks did take place on British in NWFP, including the Siege of Malakand and Swat, both well documented by Winston Churchill who was a war correspondent at the time.

A series of conflicts known as the Anglo-Afghan Wars during the imperialist Great Game, wars between the British and Russian governments, led to the eventual dismemberment of Afghanistan into NWFP, Baluchistan and Khurasan. Divide and rule policy and the annexation of NWFP and Baluchistan region led to the demarcation of the Durand Line and administration as part of British South Asia.

The Durand line is a poorly marked 1,519-mile (2,445 km) border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. After fighting in two wars against Afghans, the British succeeded in 1893 in imposing the Durand line, dividing Afghanistan from the NWFP, Baluchistan, FR regions, FATA which were incorporated into what was then British India. It was agreed upon by representatives of both governments.

The international boundary line separating two countries was named after Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the British colonial government, who in 1893 had negotiated with Abdur Rahman Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, on the frontier between modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Areas annexed from Afghanistan were the FATA, NWFP and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan, the successor state of British India and the successor Iranian state of Khorasan.

In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand was sent to Kabul by the government of British India for the purpose of settling an exchange of territory required by the demarcation of the boundary between northeastern Afghanistan, Iran and the Russian possessions.

The Amir showed ability in diplomatic argument, his tenacity where his own views or claims were in debate, with a sure underlying insight into the real situation. The territorial exchanges were amicably agreed upon; the relations between the British Indian and Afghan governments, as previously arranged, were confirmed; and an understanding was reached upon the important and difficult subject of the border line of Afghanistan on the east, towards India.

While the Afghan side greatly resented the border and viewed it as a temporary development, the British viewed it as being a permanent settlement. The NWFP Province was formed on November 9, 1901, as a Chief Commissioner ruled province, the Chief Commissioner was the chief executive of the province.

He ran the administration with the help of his principal advisers and Civil servants better known as judicial and Revenue Commissioners.

The formal inauguration of the province took place five and half months later, at Shahi Bagh on April 26, 1902, on the occasion of the historical Darbar in the Shahi Bagh (Kings Garden) in the capital town of Peshawar.

It was held by Lord Curzon the Governor of the NWFP. The province then comprised only five districts after dividing annexed areas from Afghanistan into FATA, Frontier Regions and the NWFP and Southern Punjab.

The NWFP was raised to a full-fledged governor-ruled province in 1931 in accordance with the demand by the Round Table Conference held in 1931. It was agreed upon in the conference that the NWFP would be raised to a governor-ruled province with its own Legislative Council. Sir Ralph Griffith was appointed the first Governor in 1932 (having succeeded Stuart Pearks as Chief Commissioner in 1931).

Therefore, on January 25, 1932, the Viceroy inaugurated the first NWFP Legislative Council. The first provincial elections were held in 1937 and the independent candidate and noted British loyal civil servant Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum was elected as the province's first Chief Minister.

The Pashtunistan issue kept Pakistan and Afghanistan at odds for decades until the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Following the invasion over five million Afghan refugees poured into Pakistan, most residing in the NWFP (as of 2007 nearly 3 million remain).

Afghan jihad and war with Russia

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the NWFP, the PATA and FATA served as a major base for supplying the Mujahideen who fought the Soviets during the 1980s.

The NWFP remained heavily influenced by events in Afghanistan and the civil war led to the rise of the Taliban, which had emerged in the border region between Afghanistan, Baluchistan, PATA and FATA as a formidable political force that nearly took over all of Afghanistan. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the FATA and bordering NWFP became a front-line region again as part of the global "War on Terror".

Districts

There are 24 districts in NWFP, which are divided into 18 Settled Area Districts and 6 PATA Districts. The Provincial Administered Districts are partially controlled by the central government in Islamabad through President of Pakistan and Governor of NWFP.

The Provincial Assembly of NWFP does not have full authority to implement and make laws for PATA, without consent of the President of Pakistan, through Article 247 and 246 of 1973 Constitution which governs Tribal Areas of PATA and FATA:

Important cities

Economy

NWFP's Dominance- Forestry

NWFP's share of Pakistan's GDP has historically been between 10.5% to 12.1%. The part of the economy that NWFP dominates is forestry, where its share has historically ranged from a low of 34.9% to a high of 81%, giving an average of 61.56%.[14] Currently, NWFP accounts for 10% of Pakistan's GDP,[15] 20% of Pakistan’s mining output[16] and since 1972, it has seen its economy grow in size by 3.6 times.[17]

After suffering for decades due to the fallout of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, today they are again are being targeted for totally a different situation of terrorism.

Agriculture remains important and the main cash crops include wheat, maize, rice, sugar beets, as well as various fruits are grown in the province.

Some manufacturing and high tech investments in Peshawar has helped improve job prospects for many locals, while trade in the province involves nearly every product. The bazaars in the province are renowned throughout Pakistan. Unemployment has been reduced due to establishment of industrial zones.

Numerous workshops throughout the province support the manufacture of small arms and weapons of various types. The province accounts for at least 78% of the marble production in Pakistan [18].

Social issues

The NWFP continues to have an image problem. Even within Pakistan it is regarded as a "radical state" due to the rise of Islamist parties to power in the province and purported support for the remnants of the Taliban who are believed by some to be hiding in the province.

The MMA, who until the elections of 2008, had a majority in the NWFP government, proposed Afghania as a compromise name. It has been suggested that the religious parties' power-bases in Punjab, are a central reason for opposing an ethnically-based alternative name for NWFP.[19]

The strongholds of ANP are in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan, particularly in the Peshawar valley of the NWFP, while Karachi hosts one of the largest Pashtun populations in the world with 3.5 million Pastuns live in Karachi. In the 2008 election, the ANP won two Sindh assembly seats in Karachi.[20]

The ANP has been instrumental in fighting the Taliban who are by-products of religious parties like JI and JUI which formed the MMA.[21]

Folk music

Pashto folk music is popular in NWFP and has a rich tradition going back hundreds of years. The main instruments are the Rubab, mangey and harmonium.

Khowar folk music is popular in Chitral and northern Swat. The tunes of Khowar music are very different from those of Pashto and the main instrument is the Chitrali Sitar.

A form of band music composed of clarinets (surnai) and drums is popular in Chitral. It is played at polo matches and dances. The same form of band music is also played in the neighbouring Northern Areas.

Education

The trend towards higher education is rapidly increasing in the province and the NWFP is home to Pakistan's foremost engineering university (Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute), which is located in Topi, a town in Swabi district. The University of Peshawar is also a notable institution of higher learning. The Frontier Post is perhaps the province's best-known newspaper and addresses many of the various issues facing the local population.

Contents

Regions

The NWFP offers invitation to a spectacular landscape and
cultural diversity. Peshawar is the business and administrative hub
of province though other cities have their places. Some of the
tourist’s hotspots include Khyber pass, old interior city,
industrial estate famous for smuggled goods, Islamia College,
Peshawar fort, (KisaKhawani) story teller bazaar. Its food street
is famous for barbecued sheep meat as well as karahi meat.

The Khyber Pass
leads into Afghanistan. Travelled to NWFP in July 2008 with my 16
year old son. Had a splendid time, especially as we could stand the
dust and lack of 'western' food. Very amenable people, especially
in the mountains in Shandoor, Kalash regions.

Get in

By air

Peshawar International Airport (PEW) is located
about a 25 minute drive from the center of Peshawar, it is the 4th
busiest airport in Pakistan. It is served by all Pakistan carriers
including national flag carrier "PIA". Moreover, many Middle East airlines
also serve this airport, such as Emirates, Etihad, Gulf, Kuwait and
Qatar airlines.

Peshawar airport has international direct flights to Al Ain, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu
Dhabi, Doha , Jeddah, Kabul, Muscat, Kuwait and Riyadh. The connections to/from other Asian,
European and American cities are available VIA Lahore, Karachi and
Islamabad airports. The domestic flights to/from Peshawar Airport
are Chitral, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.

Itineraries

Bazar of Peshawer Beauty of Swat & Kaghan Valley &
Chitral

Do

In the summertime hiking tours to the mountains are offered. Ask
at Green Tours in front of the Greens Hotel, Peshawar Cantt, and
Pearl Tours of the Pearl Continental Hotels. This can also be done
by hiring a car, jeep or pickup from local 'Rent-a-Car' servicing
private agencies at a very cheap rate ranging from US$20-US$60 per
day, depending upton the condition of the vehicle. (the prices r
correct as at June 30, 2006-maslampsh)

Chappal Kabab, a beef kebab shaped like the sole of a sandal is
most famous dish of Peshawar. Several famous kabab selling shops
are around. Information about them can be obtained from the travel
agents or local hotels and guides.

The restaurants in *Namak Mandi serve marvellous tikka and
karai. Meat is ordered by the kilogram, and then prepared according
to your preference, either as tikka (barbecued) or as karai (an
oil-rich stew with tomato and chili).

Faluda, a sweet dish mainly found on the Peshawar markets and
bazaars especially Qisa-Khwani Bazaar.

Peshawar is known for its Kawa (Green Tea) which has a unique
flavor, and is usually served sweet.

Sharbat-e-Sandal is a sweet, non-carbonated drink unusually
found in markets in summer. It has a good taste and a
yellowish-green transparent colour - look out for the black seeds.
Served ice cold.

Stay safe

Security wise, some parts of NWFP are not considered to be the
safest areas in Pakistan, mainly the towns bordering Tribal areas,
you should always seek advice about off-limits areas before
coming.

Stay away from towns near tribal areas and the sensitive Afghan
border regions as the Pakistan government has little to no
authority in these areas and cannot aid you in an emergency.

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